Good for the winner. Good for the bidding business. Bad for the other 19 people who lost $120 on bids. So in that case, you have a 1 in 20 chance of getting a bargain (but still paying money), and a 19 in 20 chance to lose $120.

Re: QuiBid's scammy site

I got an email linking to their site, yesterday. There were the typical "live" auctions that I'm sure I've seen on these other so-called gambling... er... I mean, penny auction sites, that are all counting down in the last few seconds... WOW someone is about to get a smokin' deal... then oops... the counters start counting down the last few seconds again. I wonder how many people get sucked in? To me, this is an outright scam, regardless of whether or not it is officially legal.

Re: QuiBid's scammy site

One of the problems with being a fraudwatcher is it's all too easy to become myopic and begin thinking the scam du jour is a bigger problem than it is.

In the grand scheme of things, QuiBids is just "another" little penny ante fraud on an internet of similar little penny ante frauds.

In the great majority of cases, the question of legality will never even be raised.

Other than for the grandaddy of the current fad of penny auctions, Zeek Rewards, it's not going to be worth even getting out of bed for investigators to even begin to look at many/most of the Zeek clones.

In any case QuiBids would be nothing be a distant memory by the time any investigation came anywhere near being ready for prosecution.

The U.S.A. has a current population of upward of 310 MILLION.

The S.E.C has approx 3,500 staff, the F.B.I. has around 37,000.

Do the math.

The reality is, the very reason forums such as REALSCAM.com exist is BECAUSE law enforcement cannot possibly be expected to stamp out 'net crime.